BYU's football media day will be broadcast live

PROVO — BYU's football program, which became independent earlier this month, is looking to make a big splash today with its first national media day at the BYUtv Broadcasting Building.

It marks the first event for the Cougars since they officially left the Mountain West Conference to go independent on July 1. Last fall, BYU announced its plan to play as an independent in 2011 and beyond, and signed an exclusive, eight-year, broadcasting agreement with ESPN.

The Cougars' first five games will be televised on either ESPN or ESPN2.

Among those scheduled to participate in the media event include coach Bronco Mendenhall and athletic director Tom Holmoe, as well as Dave Brown, ESPN's vice president of programming and acquisition, and Derek Marquis, managing director of BYUtv.

Portions of the media day event will be televised live on BYUtv, ESPN3.com and byutv.org, including the question-and-answer session with Mendenhall, Holmoe, Brown and Marquis beginning at 9 a.m. MT.

BYUtv is available in more than 55 million homes in North America on DirecTV, Dish Network and nearly 600 cable TV providers.

As part of the event, a host of former Cougars — LaVell Edwards, Ty Detmer, Steve Young, Trevor Matich and Bryan Kehl — will participate in a Legends Roundtable.

Current players, including quarterback Jake Heaps, running back Bryan Kariya, wide receiver McKay Jacobson, defensive tackle Romney Fuga, and linebackers Uona Kaveinga, Jordan Pendleton, Jameson Frazier and Brandon Ogletree, and assistant coaches Brandon Doman, Joe DuPaix and Nick Howell will be made available to the media to talk about the upcoming season. Players and coaches will also participate in an Online Fan Q&A Webcast.

The Cougars open fall camp on Aug. 6 and kick off the season on Sept. 3 at Ole Miss.

On July 1, most of the rest of BYU's other sports joined the West Coast Conference. WCC commissioner Jamie Zaninovich and associate commissioner Scott Leykam are also scheduled to be in attendance at the media day event.